Extended Trading Hours in CBD for Christmas

Christmas shoppers are herding to Melbourne's CBD faster than Santa's sleigh with December's first week attracting increased foot traffic and sales for the city's major retailers.

Following the announcement of extended trading hours to 9pm, which took effect last Monday 1 December, QV Melbourne, The Strand Melbourne, Melbourne Central, Emporium Melbourne, H&M at Melbourne's GPO, Myer and David Jones have all noted a strong week of trade to start the Christmas shopping season.

The start of the festive season coincided with the opening of Australia's first COS store, sister brand to Swedish fashion chain H&M, at The Strand Melbourne, which saw shoppers lining up around the block to be the first to snag the long-awaited apparel range.

QV Melbourne also reported a significant increase of 20 per cent in customers using its underground car park – the strongest and most reliable indicator of centre footfall – compared to 2013.

Emporium Melbourne, which is enjoying its first Christmas since opening earlier this year, experienced its biggest trading day of all time on Saturday, with more than 74,000 shoppers through its doors. These numbers take Emporium Melbourne's total foot traffic to a staggering 11 million in its 235-day history.

QV Centre Manager, Lisa Fleming, said the decision to team-up with the CBD's other major retailers to extend trading hours until 9pm for Christmas is already proving a huge success.

'Keeping our doors open until 9pm every day in the lead-up to Christmas ensures a suitable shopping time for everyone's schedule – and we are already experiencing an overwhelming consumer response. 

'The first week of the Friday Twilight Markets and Weekend Markets at QV Square proved very popular with CBD shoppers, with stallholders citing that the wet weather didn't put a dampener on sales, which were very strong," Ms Fleming said.

Melbourne Central Manager, Justin Shannon, said the centre is also attracting record customers with Hoyts cinema reporting an increase in sales and Nike Store's Nike Training Club sessions filling up weeks in advance.

'Melbourne Central retail is off to a great start for December, with this year's turnout significantly up year-on-year and shopper numbers exceeding expectations thanks to extended Christmas shopping hours and the centre's diverse offering.

'It's great to see Melbourne city so alive this festive season. From the impressive Town Hall light installation to Myer City's Christmas windows, there really is no better place to shop this Christmas, and these December week one numbers are testament to this," Mr Shannon said.

Melbourne CBD's major department stores also experienced a kick-start to Christmas trade. Myer reported a positive customer response to its Christmas Giftorium, where shoppers are treated to endless options for gifts, decorations and festive food ideas alongside personal shopping services from in-house -Gifticians'. There are more than 2.2 million products available in the Giftorium, across all Myer stores.

Similarly, David Jones experienced an increase in families taking advantage of extended trading hours last week, with shoppers enjoying its famous Foodhall and browsing the many gift options throughout the store. Women's contemporary designer handbags proved the most popular attraction, with luxury brands Saint Laurent and Marc by Marc Jacobs trumping the sales for women while menswear brands Thomas Pink and Bally were also very popular.

QV Melbourne, The Strand Melbourne, Melbourne Central, Emporium Melbourne, H&M at Melbourne's GPO, Myer and David Jones have all extended trading hours to 9pm every night from 1 December 2014 until Christmas and until 12 midnight on 19 December. Follow the Melbourne CBD Christmas conversation at #MelbCBDXmas.